India confident of better trade relations with US under Donald Trump’s leadership: Piyush Goyal peppermint

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday expressed confidence in the resilience of India-US relations as Donald Trump gears up for another term in the White House.

Goyal highlighted the strong relationship between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while also insisting that he faces no challenge regarding trade tariffs.

Addressing a press conference, Goyal said the US President-elect has often expressed his confidence in the India-US partnership during his tenure and described Modi as a good friend. “I think if you don’t lose heart, we should let the new government come and take charge and express our formal and official views.”

He said, “He (Trump) is a friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I am sure this friendship will continue to grow further.”

Interestingly, Trump, who takes office in January 2025, plans to impose huge tariff hikes of up to 25% on America’s top three trading partners—Mexico, Canada and China—on his first day in office to control America’s growing trade deficit. Have planned. , its imports have overtaken its exports.

The US is one of the few countries with which India enjoys a trade surplus, recording a bilateral trade surplus of $35.33 billion in 2023-24, up from $27.69 billion in 2022-23.

Total goods trade between the two countries during 2023-24 stood at around $119.7 billion, down from $126.41 billion last year.

In comparison, India’s total merchandise trade deficit in 2023-24 was $240.17 billion, down 9.33% from $264.90 billion in 2022-23.

India’s exports

Meanwhile, Goyal said that despite challenges related to the pandemic and geopolitical crises like the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Red Sea crisis, India’s total exports including goods and services are expected to cross $800 billion in 2024-25.

He said, “India has doubled its exports during the tenure of Prime Minister Modi.”

“I see our export earnings growing even more rapidly before my eyes,” he said.

India’s total exports, including goods and services, were estimated at $776.68 billion in value terms in 2023-24, up from $776.40 billion a year ago, according to commerce ministry data.

“The various policies that we have come up with, whether it is our effort to promote industrial corridors and industrial smart cities, whether it is our effort to reduce our logistics costs, whether it is our effort to create the right ecosystem, more of both the things. Be it encouraging exports and all services, steps have been taken towards making India self-reliant and giving us a competitive edge in areas where we have strengths,” Goyal said.

“It is not necessary that India needs to do everything, but the strategic areas and the areas where we have a competitive edge will be our strengths going forward, which we will continue to encourage and grow,” he said.

India-UK FTA

Meanwhile, regarding India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) talks, Goyal said Britain is ready to talk and take the talks forward after the elections, which have seen a change in government.

Recently, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to resume trade talks with India early next year after a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 summit in Brazil.

The two leaders met in Rio de Janeiro last week, where Downing Street confirmed the UK’s intention to pursue a new strategic partnership with India, including a trade agreement.

Talks for an India-UK FTA, which were to begin in January 2022, were stalled after the 14th round of talks as both the countries entered their respective general election cycles.

EU rules

Goyal described the European Union (EU) green economy rules as unfair and a violation of the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” and said she had raised it with her European counterparts such as Sophie Primas of France.

“I raised this issue strongly with my French counterpart and expressed India’s deep disappointment over the unilateral rules brought in by the EU and the many new rules which are not acceptable to anyone in the world, which have been opposed by developed countries Equally by developing and less developed countries,” Goyal said.

Under the proposed EUDR, or EU Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products, operators or traders placing specified commodities on the EU market or exporting them would have to prove that their products are not from recently deforested land. Do not occur or contribute to forest degradation.

In addition, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) introduces tariffs on energy-intensive goods imported into the EU.

India has raised concerns that the policy could lead to higher tariffs on carbon-intensive exports such as cement, aluminium, iron and steel, effectively acting as a unilateral trade barrier.